wine/beer storage designing

[NewB2Brewing]

I know I can't possibly be the only one with an unfinished basement overwhelmed by ageing beer, wine and equipment?!?! Does anyone have some nifty DIY suggestions? At some point I do have plans to finish my basement with some type of bar setup, but would certainly need something to store the equipment as well as ageing brew/wine.

 

[bobeer]

It's nothing special but its organized and neat. My cellared beer is in a box in the back of the shelf. Abt 12 bombers or so worth. All my tubes, auto siphon, and line i hung using nails on the side of and under the staircase.

View attachment 1421278123305.jpg

 

[NewB2Brewing]

Looks organized! my problem is storage of beer and wine because I've got a lot. I recently built a keezer so that helped my beer situation.

 

[bobeer]

I just saw a lattice work storage setup further down on this "other" diy thread. Do some research about if it's cool to store beer on its side. I remember reading something about it but i don't recall if it's a good thing or bad thing.

 

[NewB2Brewing]

Yea good point, I'm sure it may have to do with the caps you use too.

 

[worxman02]

You probably want to have some shelves to store your beer upright, especially if you have bottle conditioned ones aging. Then you'll want to have horizontal storage for your wine. You have a couple options of either building a lattice style storage system, or an [X] style storage rack, or you can build some tubular cubbies out of cardboard carpet tubes or PVC. You might be able to get some free cardboard carpet tubes from Home Depot or Lowes or a local carpet store.

Ideally it would all be temp controlled. The wine is probably fine at basement temps, but the beer should be kept very cold to help preserve the flavors longer, especially if you have IPAs or other hoppy beers hanging around.

 

[dfess1]

I built this rack for my bar area. Stained it to match the rest of the cabinets. Made the plan off the top of my head, had to use some 5th grade math (Pythagorean theorem)

 

[NewB2Brewing]

Any worries about temperature controlling? I've considered something similar, but with bulk storage and being in the basement, I feel like temp would be needed?

 

[brewguyver]

Unless you're running a wine cellaring unit with proper humidity control (60-70%?) a cool basement is probably going to be about as reliable as a wine fridge. The cheap ones can have some big swings and don't do much for humidity.

I have a similar setup (bought the cheap redracks from beverage factory and tacked them together with a nail gun) - it seems to be working well enough. Without temp control it's not great for longterm aging, but I don't buy wine that expensive.

 

[NewB2Brewing]

About how warm do you generally keep your basement? Currently mines unfinished, but once I finish it I will most likely have a heat source. Makes sense that you don't have temp control if your not making wine. When I make a batch it usually yields about 30 bottles and I try to have a few varieties available, but that requires aging. Perhaps one option could be to leave a small portion of basement unfinished so that area would naturally be cooler.